


How to Draw Lines

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 13:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18739546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "I really enjoyed that the hero of this movie’s main motivation was something as unheroic as attention. I’d like something involving Jack’s attention-seeking tendencies. 300 years of pretty serious neglect can result in someone who can’t get enough of being in the spotlight, and not knowing when his behaviour to accomplish this becomes inappropriate. Perhaps involving Pitch and his own similar motivations, and the similarities and differences between how he and Jack deal with it?"This was hard to address in a short fic, but here’s a conversation between Jack and Bunny about this issue, with some hints at a less black-and-white relationship with Pitch in the past.





	How to Draw Lines

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 8/4/2015.

“So, I don’t want you to take this as permission to tell me what to do all the time, but I need you to let me know where are the lines and when I cross them,” Jack says to Bunny. Summer is well underway in the world outside, and Jack finds himself retreating to the cooler Warren frequently, even if the heat bothers him less now as he gains more believers, and even when there’s still some snow days he could bring to the southern hemisphere. Being able to talk to people is great, and being able to show off for kids who really want to see him is even better, but Jack wants to get used to talking to people who aren’t kids, too—and people who aren’t exactly people in the same way as he is. He hadn’t known what he was missing, before. The Guardians and similar beings took actions and made grand gestures that affected the whole world. What need did they have of talking like ordinary people? A very great need, as it turned out. And Jack didn’t want to damage the rapport he was building with the others.  
  
And so, he went to Bunny, because Bunny was the one who was most likely to acknowledge that Jack  _could_  still mess up, even if he had fought Pitch and taken the oath and all that.  
  
“You want to be more specific?” Bunny asks.  
  
“So far I’ve managed to come up with the guideline that causing a massive blizzard out of season isn’t the right way to get noticed,” Jack says.  
  
“A solid start,” Bunny says. He puts down the notebook in which he had been making notes on the flowers currently blooming in this part of the Warren. “Is that what you’re asking for advice on? How to be noticed in a good way? I would have thought you’d be learning a lot from the kids you’ve been meeting.”  
  
“Well, sure,” Jack says. “But it’s easy to interact with kids. They’re, like always glad to see me and I’m glad to see them and if something starts going wrong then a few snowflakes will take care of that, and everyone’s happy. But I know that just slinging snowflakes at you or the other Guardians or anyone else isn’t the way to go if I want you to be my friends. But the thing is, it would make it  _seem_  that way for a while, easily. And that’s pretty tempting. I mean, even when it wore off…I mean, you’d probably start giving me negative attention, soon enough, and like, consciously I don’t want that…but unconsciously, I think I’d still be glad about it. Anyway.” He looks around and taps his hand on the side of his leg. “You know what I don’t like about the Warren? There’s no walls to lean on, or anything to mess with that won’t freeze…”  
  
“There are rocks,” Bunny points out dryly. “But, anyway, you seem a lot more nervous about this than you need to be. So why don’t you just say what you want to say so you don’t get me all irritated in addition to whatever reaction you’re worried about.”  
  
“Like  _that’s_  easy.”  
  
“Pretend you’re talking to yourself,” Bunny suggests, earning a glare from Jack.  
  
“Right? Okay, so that’s part of the problem. I’ve been alone, just as alone as Pitch was. I understand how desperate he was to be seen, and if he hadn’t started off by  _attacking_  I don’t think it would have been an unsolvable problem to figure out how he could get a little attention? No, I shouldn’t have brought this up to you, you’re the one who said he should have stayed under beds. But the thing is, it would have been pretty easy for me to become like Pitch! Like, I barely know how to interact with people in a good way, I just need to be  _noticed_ , and it’s going to lead me to do something out of line. And so that’s why I need you to promise that you’ll warn me if that’s what I’m doing.”  
  
Bunny looks at him skeptically. “You know I can’t predict every way you might mess up.”  
  
“Well, just the unforgivable things then, that’s got to be a shorter list!” Jack shoves his hands in his sweatshirt pocket.  
  
“If you’re worried about that, that means you’re probably going to be okay,” Bunny said. “I can’t guarantee it! So don’t ask me to. But…look. It’s not just about attention, and as for the threshold of unforgivable-ness…well, have you got some time? There’s some history with Pitch that I bet no one’s explained to you yet.”  
  
Jack nods slowly. “I’ve got time.”  
  
“Good. Now, it’s crossed my mind that you might have come to me because of my still being sore with you about the blizzard of ’68. Well, this might indirectly help you understand that, too—thing is, forty-four years is nothing in the kind of history I’ve got to go into now. Anyway, here we go. The story of just how much of a disaster you can be before everyone decides you’re a nemesis all the time…” 


End file.
